Doing the laundry can actually be elevated to an art form when it comes to washing specialty items like lace, linens and such. Here are some tips to help you along your lint-free way. Read on, if you dare.
White Linen
Combine a melted bar of white soap into a pail of milk and let the item sit in the solution for an hour or so. (Whether you use skim or whole milk it doesn’t matter, as this is one of the few times in life when calories are not the issue.) Wash the linen piece by hand and then rinse well with clean water. Or soak the piece for 30 minutes in a solution of 1-part white vinegar and 4 parts warm water. Rinse well with warm water.
White Lace
To whiten yellowed lace items, mix ¼ cup baking soda, 1-tablespoon laundry detergent and 4 cups of water. Bring to a boil, remove from heat and dip the items into the hot liquid. Use gloves or tongs, as water will be very hot. If lace is stained, think about ecru or beige tones rather than white. Soak the item in a pot of hot tea. That will render a “sepia look” and camouflage the stain so that you can still use the lacy item, no matter what it is.
Lint Free Laundry: Do You Have a Dream?
Add ½ cup white vinegar to the rinse cycle. Sometimes a rubber dishwashing glove will remove lint after the fact. (If not, send it back to the manufacturer.)
Softening The Weary Load
Throw 1/2 cup of baking soda into the washer with your detergent instead of those expensive fabric softener sheets. You can also drop a few drops of fabric softener liquid onto an old face cloth and throw it into the dryer along with the load and whoever else is giving you a hard time. It’s much cheaper than the sheets and much better for the environment. If your water is hard, you may need to add more detergent than normal to obtain enough suds.
Do YOU have any laundry tips to share? Please do.
Related Reading:
“Laundry Tips For a Cleaner…You!”
“Washing Windows: A Carefree Diversion”